ORONO – It may as well have been opening night on Broadway Saturday for the cast of the University of Maine field hockey team.

It was the first game of the season with a new coach, a lot of new faces, and some familiar ones in new places. Butterflies were fluttering in stomachs.

Except instead of lines, there were plays to remember; Broadway was College Avenue, the stage was Morse Field, and a brilliant, warm sun stood in for the spotlight.

Most of the 200 or so fans in the crowd (audience) weren’t disappointed as they were treated to a tight game with a dramatic finish and a 2-1 Maine overtime win over Sacred Heart University.

Maine senior midfielder Gina Legge rushed up the middle-left side of the field through traffic, pulled up within 10 feet of the net, and blasted the game-winning goal into the net six minutes, 19 seconds into overtime.

“She just dribbled in and took the shot herself,” said UMaine interim head coach Andrea Thebarge, who admitted she would like to take the “interim” portion of her title off. “I absolutely would and this is step one in that process.”

Maine was outshot 12-10 in the game and outplayed for much of the first half after Katie Flaherty and Erin Reusch combined on a perfectly executed score taken right from the playbook to make it 1-0 Maine 6:22 into the game.

Reusch was stationed on the left side of the goal and Flaherty found her from 20 feet outside the right side of the cage with a perfect pass, which Reusch swiped into the left corner of the net.

“We’ve emphasized that play and getting two-on-ones up the right sideline,” Reusch said. “I got a great cross and I just happened to be on the left post to put it in.”

The Pioneers tied it 12 minutes later when Danielle Vasely grabbed the ball off a deflected shot by Jenn Howley that came to Vasely near the right post. She swept it in after UMaine goalie Rebecca Giroux was drawn out from the net.

Sacred Heart seemed to feed off the score and kept the ball on Maine’s side most of the first half’s remaining minutes.

“We definitely passed too much and it kind of bogged us down in the first half,” said Legge. “I think we were trying to be a little too complex.”

Maine made some adjustments at halftime and seemed to slow down the Pioneers.

“Their center mid and center defender were causing us some havoc down the middle of the field,” Thebarge said. “We started working more on our possession game and not making so many silly passes, like we did in the first half.”

Sacred Heart coach Chris Blais said it basically came down to which team capitalized on opportunities.

“I think for most of the game, we possessed the ball very well. I didn’t think there was a whole lot of time where they were outplaying us. We should have put it away, but we didn’t,” Blais said. “You can’t let them come down the middle with the ball, but we gave them a lot of chances.”

Giroux came up with two saves while Ashley Del Greco, her Sacred Heart counterpart, notched four.

Green cards (warnings) were issued to two players – SHU’s Jenn Howley and Maine’s Kristen Healy – for rough play in the second half.